Mushrooms contain a fruiting body (the part of the mushroom you’d recognize) and mycelium, the part that grows underground or inside the plant. Think of the mycelium as the roots of the mushroom. Nearly all mushroom products are mycelium, not the actual mushroom. They’re grown in a lab on sterilized grains (such as rice, sorghum or oats) and ground into a powder.

If you’re buying a mycelium product, you’re not getting the beta-glucan rich content of the fruiting body. Beta-glucans are the active compounds in mushrooms. Fruiting bodies are full spectrum and also offer more vitamins and minerals. You’re not getting a real mushroom and your dog is not getting all of the health benefits.

Four Leaf Rover’s mushrooms are grown on wood, just as they would grow in nature. This guarantees the medicinal compounds will be in the mushrooms. They’re grown in greenhouses with a constant flow of fresh air and water, along with natural sunlight. After harvesting, every mushroom is tested for chemicals or contamination.

Fruiting bodies require hot water extraction to break down the chitin in the cell walls. Dogs and humans lack the digestive enzyme to break down chitin, so extraction is necessary to get all the nutrients from the fruiting body. Extraction pulls out the beta-glucans. The extraction is then purified and dried into a powder with all the beneficial mushroom parts intact.

Every batch of mushrooms is checked for bacteria, heavy metals, and pesticides. The mushroom extracts are then tested for beta-glucan content to make sure the mushrooms are truly medicinal. Our mushrooms are certified organic, and free from heavy metals and pesticides. No mycelium, no grains and no starch ever.

If your dog doesn’t have any health challenges, once a day should be enough. But if your dog is fighting illness, you can give mushrooms twice daily.